I love Amanda's suggestion of almond flour! Hazelnut flour would also lend excellent flavor. But she's right: you need another glutenfree flour to support it. Here's how I'd convert the recipe (for 2 cups or 250g):

If the batter seems more liquid than a cake should be, add 10-20g more almond flour. The almond flour will make this cake more dense, so if you want it to be a lighter texture, you can just put in half the amount of almond flour and half another glutenfree flour. Good luck! I'd love to know how it turns out.

Update: I made the cake! I used 2/3 cup each hazlenut meal, tapioca starch and white rice flour (thinking it was the same as sweet rice flour—evidently not). The oven may have been a bit hot, and I'm not a terribly experienced baker. The cake collapsed a little on itself, and then broke apart when I was taking it out of the pan (and again when I took it off the rack). In the end I sort of pushed it together and eliminated the hole and frosted it. Everyone loved it—I thought it had sort of a health-food taste and was a bit heavy. It was probably fine for gluten-free, but would not compete with a regular cake. I was impressed with the frosting, although mine was not as glossy as yours! Served it with Anise ice cream, which is a crowd pleaser. Pictures attached. Thanks again for the advice.

Carol is a gluten-free chef and food blogger currently cooking her way through the Alinea Cookbook.

added over 5 years ago

I've found that in cakes, using Cup4Cup or Pamela's baking mix works beautifully. I've tried all the other ratios involving using multiple flours, starches, and gums, and they just don't perform as well as Cup4Cup or Pamela's. Hope that helps for future baking!

@Andge: Thanks for the update! I'm so sorry it didn't work. I should have been more specific about the sweet rice flour--that's the secret ingredient that really helps hold things together. White rice flour, as you guessed, is very different from sweet rice flour. The others are correct in that Cup4Cup or other glutenfree APF mixes works well for a quick glutenfree substitution, especially when you don't have a lot of experience with glutenfree baking. My favorite mix for this is the King Arthur glutenfree flour blend. I'm glad your guests still liked the cake!